Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.

Just the other day I was reading an article on wired. This article discusses an interesting scenario. The title is named "Who's afraid of Google? Everyone", it’s an interesting article, it points out that Google is coming out with newer services everyday and is doing almost everything these days.

"It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce"

Yes its quite true, off late Google has been launching newer and newer services almost every other day latest ones being Google Analytics, Wi-Fi in San Francisco, Google Click-a-call, AdSense for bloggers, Google Base, Google Print et al. It further says that "In less than a decade, Google has gone from guerrilla startup to 800-pound gorilla". Pretty true they have become giants in just about a decade; they are a brand who almost everyone blindly believes in. That's one of the reasons they find themselves at $430 :) It says that with all these services in vary diverse areas it is taking on some of THE biggest industry giants head-on including Microsoft, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, Comcast, Verizon et al. And so far they are doing it pretty good; they have now got the market reputation to go further and further and take on all these. Most of the Google ideas have been very revolutionary and have been a boon for the end-user. But is their something to be afraid of for us?

Here's an excerpt from a discussion on Slashdot pointing out to an interesting view:

"Is it a good thing "to organize the world's information”?

It seems I'm one of the few people not excited about this idea. I fear that in the future privacy will be luxury item that very few can afford.

One SF novel I read introduced me to very interesting idea - if everything networked and you can access virtually any kind of information about the only reliable way to have privacy is to drown it in a see of misinformation and irrelevant information. Anything distinctive about you becomes a disadvantage - you can be identified by it and tracked down. So everyone will want to conform and be a Bill Smith from a large city working for large company...

A lot of information out there gets recorded about every individual person - shopping habits, library books, income, medical history, debt, family, education, political affiliations, phone calls history, traffic violations... Only right now most of this information is unorganized and not readily networked, so you can't come up with inexpensive and fast way to retrieve it. On other hand if Google achieves its goal...

You think monopolizing OS is bad? How about monopolizing access to information? How about monopolizing not letting others access your private information? It just might happen.

Google's behavior so far has been so brilliant and successful that they almost appear like aliens from a superior culture. Predicting their next move seems nearly impossible"

Well quite true that with Google and their AdSense combining in almost all of their services from Gmail, GTalk, Blogger, Analytics, Personalized Home Page, Search they have almost all of your information from mail to chat-conversations to blogging topics (or areas of interest) to your visitors (analytics) to reading habits (personalized page) to your searching habits and what not. At one end this is such a great thing that you have only relevant ads but on the other hand this also means that Google has almost all the information about you! Its just needs better organization and some thoughtful search terms to show anyone's private information? Of course it’s not as easy as I made it sound, but this surely is possible especially with the increasingly number of ways being published to retrieve some private information using Google search only.

This was just an interesting view over the current services revolution taking place.

Enough till next time I guess, meanwhile enjoy this it’s a fictional look at the future :)

Update: I guess everyone is thinking the same these days !!

Lara kya Mara

This post is dedicated to Sir Brian Charles Lara who just surpassed Allan Border's record of 11,174 runs in Test Matches. Now Brian Lara is THE leading run-scorer in the test history. He did this in only his 119th test match as opposed to Border who scored these runs in 156 test matches. A pull to fine-leg of the bowling off his tormentor Glenn Mcgrath took Lara to his 214th run in the innings and 11,175th run in his test career. He was finally dismissed for 226. His current tally after first innings at Adielade Oval stands at 11, 187 runs (121 tests). Top 10 records he has on his name in his high-profile career in first class cricket are:

1. Highest run getter in test history. (11, 187 run)
2. Highest individual score in one innings in test matches. (400no against England @ Antigua)
3. Highest individual score in first-class matches (501no for Warwickshire)
4. Only player to break the highest individual score record twice. (Broke Sir Gary Sobers record of 365 with his 375 @ Antigua. Then broke Hayden's record of 380 with his 400no @ Antigua again)
5. Highest runs scored in a single over in Test matches. (28 run [4 fours, 2 sixes] against Robin Pieterson of SA)
6. Scorer of 2nd best innings of the century rated by Wisden. (153no while chasing 308 runs to take his team to victory by 1 wkt against Aus, 1999)
7. 31 Test centuries (behind only Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Steven Waugh)
8. 8 double centuries (behind only Sir Don Bradman's 12)
9. 2 triple centuries (equal to Sir Don Bradman's record)
10. Highest runs in a Test match in losing cause (351 [221+130] against SL)

He is 36 now, but he looks good enough to break a few more records before he decides to retire. Inspite of all the criticism, playing in a weak and almost always losing team he has been performing admirably well all throughout his career with a few lean patches in between. He has never been the most consistent player around, but has always been the scorer of big innings'. He still remains the best batsman currently playing cricket for me and surely one of THE GREATEST of all times. His unique batting style of a high back-lift, those typically Caribbean cover drives, magical cuts and pulls, nimble footwork against the spinners, sweeps and his dancing down the wicked has always been a treat to watch and is one of THE FEW batsman anyone would love to watch when in full flow.

Playing for a very weak team has meant that some of his greatest innings have come for a losing cause or are some of very fighting innings when team is in pretty tough position. I will pick 5 of my favorite test innings played by Lara:

1. 153 no against Aus, 1999 (this one was simply a genius)
2. 277 against Aus, 1992-93 at Sydney (this one was his maiden test century, and on of the greatest innings played ever, infact Lara himself rates this innings as his best. He infact has named his daughter "Sydney" because of this!!)
3. 221 and 130 against SL (these were in very spin friendly conditions against Murlidharan)
4. 226 against Aus @ Adeilade in current match (Inspite of all the bad umpiring decisions and criticism of being completely out of form he arose to the occasion to score another big double hundred in what is most probably his last test match in Australia)
5. 375 against England @ Antigua (he broke Sir Gary Sobers' record with this score)

With this i sign off with the message "HAIL LARA"

Just to add something on Indian cricket:

"Thank You the Kolkatta fans for making a game of Ind v/s SA at Eden Gardens feel like an away game for Indian team by jeering players like Dravid, Sachin and Coach Greg Chappell and applauding the South Africans. Slogans like 'Dravid hai hai' for THE BEST INDIAN PLAYER by far for last few years and of course the current captain, "Ganguly dada, Chappell gadha" for the Indian coach and "Sachin hai hai" have again shown your preferences of Ganguly over the Team India"

This Ind-SA series has been completely dismal, with the team winning toss winning the match. The mantra has been simple, win the toss, field first, dismiss the team for a paltry total when the ball is swinging a bit in first innings, and then chase the small total easily. I hope just to level things India should won the toss in last match to level the series 2-2.

"Allrounder" Ganguly included in Test squad

Disclaimer: If the person reading this is by chance a bengali or a die-hard Ganguly fan then he/she can stop reading right now. The following text is completely my view or rather a view of CRICKET FAN.

Nov 22, 2005 - Rahul Dravid is selected as the captain of the Indian team and chairman of selectors Kiran More states that it is very hard for Ganguly in current form to get into the Indian team.

Nov 23, 2005 - Saurav Ganguly is *magically* selected in the Indian team for the first test against SriLanka. This time our chairman of selector Kiran More states that - "Ganguly has been chosen as a BOWLING ALLROUNDER, this will allow us to have 6 - 7 bowlers, this will give team more flexibility. He has been chosen as a BOWLING ALLROUNDER, no as a BATTING ALLROUNDER. He hasn't been selected because of any EXTERNAL PRESSURE".

Wtf ! they consider us a complete !diot or what ? just a day before u said its tough for Ganguly in current form to get in the team, the next day u r selecting him in the team and u dont even know what to call him ? a "bowling allrounder" or a "batting allrounder". whatever be he surely is none of those f**king options. A guy who has been playing international cricket for over 8 years and has never been considered remotely as an allrounder (except for that purple patch way back in Toronto), has been selected in his final days as an allrounder, when he cant score a single run in the whole Duleep Trophy Final ? Are you really f**king serious ? You think we would simply believe this ? Does this even remotely sounds true ? Surely not !

Coming to some realistic reasons behind this selection. 4th ODI b/w Ind-SA is to be played in Eden Gardens, Kolkatta which happens to be the home of their "maharaj" ganguly !! And as ganguly has not been chosen in the indian ODI team, these kolkatta people are THREATENING that they won't allow the match to happen if GANGULY IS NOT SELECTED in the team ? wtf, and these f**king people call themselves cricket fans ? They can't see indian playing well and winning ? Infact they dont care a damn about wtf india does, they just care about their f**king "maharaj". I might just be sounding too anti-bengali, but this remains a BITTER TRUTH, that all bengalis simply adore their state players, they dont care a damn about the country, and how country is performing. They will always believe that their state player is the best ! I think in inter-state matches you can think so, but while coming to international scene you have to GROW UP, and believe in the reality and believe what is the best for the country ! I am yet to meet a bengali who doesn't have Ganguly as his favorite cricketer ! Is this a coincidence ? hell no !! surely not ! They are the most biased people i have ever seen. And the best or rather the worst part is they have the guts and courage to openly say in front of the camera that THEY WON'T LET THE MATCH HAPPEN if ganguly is not selected !! This is democracy for you, few people proving right in front of the media that they are above the law or rather THE LAW in bengal ? Well their threats have worked out and ganguly is selected in the team as a fucking allrounder !! Infact the team had to be selected after Ind-SA series get over but the selection had been preponed. Kolkatta already has a pretty bad past record be it World Cup Semis against SL in '96 or against Pakistan 2-3 years back, infact if i believe right they are among the black-listed venues of ICC, where if the crowd trouble happen once more they will be permanently disallowed to host any game. But do those ppl care a damn about it ? no !! Its the INDIA whose image will be tarnished coz of it and that's none of their matter !

Now to its implications, his selection directly means that both Yuvraj and Kaif will have to sit out of the team. Inspite of the fact that Kaif was the best indian batsmen on Zimbabwe tour and has a far better recent record than Ganguly. On the other hand Yuvraj has been on top of his form off late, scoring a great half-century against SL, and following it up with a classy century against SA in the first ODI, that too when Indians were in dire straits. But all those performances have come to nought as the "Bengali Threat" prevailed over sanity. Another person to suffer because of Ganguly's selection is Zaheer Khan, he took 23 wkts in 3 Duleep Trophy matches including 9 wkts in the final to lead his team to victory. Irony, it seems that it was Zaheer Khan who dismissed Ganguly for NOUGHT in both the innings of the Duleep Trophy final, and its him who has to sit out of the team while the "bowling/batting allrounder" Ganguly, who couldn't score a run against him has been selected !!

Morpheus rightly said "Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony"

Just the time when Indian team's future was looking pretty bright the selectors have made this decision. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that as this Eden Gardens' match is over selectors or maybe Dravid-Chappel take a U-turn to either drop him or atleast not chose him in the first eleven :). That would surely be the best solution now !

Cricinfo's Dileep Premachandran states on this -> Driven by sentiment
An extract from the above article: "Given that he's no Jonty Rhodes in the field, we can safely assume that Ganguly wasn't selected for 12th-man duty. But by saying that he was selected as a batting allrounder, Kiran More has only ensured that his panel will be the butt of most cricketing jokes for some time to come. Ganguly has taken 25 wickets in his 84 Tests, and prior to taking two in two matches against South Africa last year, his last wicket had been way back in 2001, when he finished with figures of 2 for 69 at Kandy. To tag him an allrounder is almost as farcical as considering Mike Tyson a heavyweight contender."

End of Federer's streak

After 24 consecutive final victories finally the King Federer lost a tennis tournament finale. It is more than 2 years when he lost a final. His last loss dates back to Oct 2003. And after 35 consecutive wins he faced a loss this year. This record simply speaks of the dominance this man has had over the tennis arena for past 2 years. I am actually short of adjectives for him, he simply has been awesome. A never before dominance over the top ten players. He has very rarely lost to a player in top ten. And in finals he has simple thrown away his opponents. Though this year in few of finals he has lost a set or two but he has been way ahead of his opponents. If i remember correct this was his 3rd loss in 85 matches this year. Simply amazing.

This Master's Cup, the season ending tournament was looking to be a cakewalk for federer, as most of the players (only top 8 players play in this tournament) had withdrawn from it namely Rafael Nadal, Hewitt, Roddick, Safin, Agassi ! Nor that these players have great record against Federer, but atleast people HOPE that atleast they CAN beat him SOMETIME !! To start of the tournamen federer was rusty with all 3 of his round-robin matches going to decider set. But in the semis he simply CRUSHED the french open champion Gaudio 6-0, 6-0 ! It was a scoreline showing similar to a top player beating some unknown player...certainly not how you beat a top 10 player ! Everything was looking ominous for Nalbandian, all odds were against him in finale again Federer. He fought hard in first 2 sets but lost both of them in tie-breaks including the first one by a very unlucky net point for federer (which they call CHAMPION's LUCK !). He hung on and broke Federer twice to take the 3rd set 6-2. Suddenly the federer started fading, the fatigue (or maybe some injury) had him. He could barely move and had to call the trainer. Nalbandian took 9 consecutive games to lead 4-0 in the decider set after winning the 4th by 6-1. But at this point Nalbandian's eagerness/excitement to finish the match and Federer's mental toughness came into picture. Nalbandian regularly started missing the whitelines by a whisker and Federer kept his cool to break him twice and get level at 4-4 ! Federer broke Nalbandian for 3rd time in the set to server for the match at 6-5 !! It was looking like game over for Nalbandian and 24 matches winning streak of federer seemed pretty likely to be increased to 25 ! But seeing the cup, he had almost won slipping out Nalbandian forced his way back to break federer to take the set into tiebreak and then taking the tiebreak to end the Federer's winning streak of 24 finales in over 4 hrs and 30 min. This was simply a GREAT result for Nalbandian and atleast somebody showed that Federer can be beaten (be it was fatigue/injury or Nalbandian). :)

Few other big sports news:
1. Ronaldinho scored a brace to lead Barca for a THRASHING of real madrid at their home !!
2. ROY KEANE quits Man Utd.
3. Man Utd, Chelsea win and Arsenal narrowly beats Wigan to end their unbeaten run.
4. Milan lose to Fiorentina 1-3 to give Juve a 5 points lead !
5. India levels series against SA.

Well i am pretty excited coz a TT tournament is coming up at my workplace. Hoping for the best :)

The Big War

This post is about something which I (infact quite a lot of people) have been following for several months. It is about the battle for the internet supremacy between 3 giants Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO). Yes, it's the battle for "supremacy" not the "dominance", as Robert Scoble, a Microsoft geek aptly points out - "Internet is too big a thing to be dominated by one company alone, so it’s a battle for supremacy". Each of the 3 companies is rolling out pretty similar services so that they don’t fall behind in the competition. This post is not going to decide which one is better, but just a small preview of what things each of them are offering and what lies in future. I will look at each of the three one by one.

I will start off with Google, the so-called "GOD" of internet, the one whom people believe almost blindly. Google has a lot of popular services, it’s a runaway leader in search, the company which has basically revolutionized the web search and has made the Microsoft's and Yahoo's to introspect and to provide a better search. Other than this web search several other popular Google services are: Gmail, Google Desktop Search, GTalk, Google Maps/Earth, Google Personalized Homepage, Blogger etc. Each of these products has been pretty revolutionary in the sense that they have made the life of an internet user pretty easy.

It's not more than a year or so ago, when none of the free email services were ready to give away more than 4-6 MB of mailbox space, Gmail came and gave away 1GB of free space and that the mailing experience has never been this good, now almost all the mail services are giving that much space which u can hardly ever fill!! Gmail stays at somewhere over 2GB, Y! at 1GB, Hotmail at 250/25 MB. Google Desktop Search has made searching files on your hard drive ever easier and made people dump the old crappy existing Windows search. GTalk is pretty much like Skype, but it’s certainly not a messenger for me. Google Maps/Earth has made finding paths and places easier. Google Personalized Page has provided a damn easy interface to combine *almost* everything you read on the internet onto one single page and finally there is blogger which me myself is using to dump all my thoughts including this.

Coming on to Microsoft, they have their own services competing head on with all these Google services. They have MSN Search, Hotmail, MSN Desktop Search, MSN Messenger, MSN Virtual Earth, Windows live/start.com, MSN Spaces etc. While Hotmail, MSN Search and MSN Messenger have been around for ages, MSN Desktop Search, MSN Virtual Earth and Windows live seems to be *INSPIRED* by the Google counterparts. The biggest advantage that MS has is their reach to masses with around 90% of the desktop with their OS: Windows 9X/ME/2000/XP/Vista (?) and around 80+% of browser market with IE. Plus they have the cash in the bag which enables them to quickly catch up with their competitors, by either acquiring some other company doing similar work or by developing it through their own developers.

Personally I liked MSN Desktop Search more than the GDS, mainly coz it had more features with outlook integration et al, plus it was far more customizable then GDS, but GDS 2 has come up with all those features + something called sidebar and negated that part. But I still use MSN Desktop Search, coz it provides tabbed-browsing to whatever little browsing I do in IE. MSN Virtual Earth seems to be lacking in the quantity of maps as compared to G Earth, but the resolution and clarity seems to be a more than G Earth. Windows live.com (still in beta) has similar features compared to Google Personalized Page, but their plus point can be adding Hotmail (already there) and MSN Messenger (to-be-added with Messenger Live). If all of these are combined then I guess this will be great for the user, as it will combine almost around 80+% of internet usage/surfing to one single page ranging from Mail, messenger, Dilbert, weather forecasts, blogs, news, Slashdot, to several other RSS/ATOM feeds. As for their old services, MSN search hardly stands in front of Google, but hotmail and MSN messenger are quite popular if not the most popular. The UI of both stands out as compared to others, but mailbox size is still something where hotmail lags behind as compared to its competitors, while MSN lags in the latest "call to computer" feature given by Gtalk and Y!.

Now on to Yahoo!, they have their corresponding services like Yahoo! search, Yahoo! Mail, Y! Desktop search, Y! Messenger, Y! Maps and My Yahoo! etc. Most of these Y! Services have been around for a while including My Yahoo! but except for Y! Mail, Messenger and Search, none of them are as popular as compared to their counterparts. But Yahoo's main business exists in their mail and messenger only. Personally I believe Yahoo! Mail is currently the best email service, while their messenger is pretty close to MSN in popularity (though I hate Y! with voice, as it takes at least around 5-6 times more RAM then others as well as its older versions even in idle state).

Few of the recent advancements i have read regarding this are:

1. Yahoo and MSN planning to combine their messenger service.

2. Both Google and Microsoft bidding to acquire internet giant AOL (with Yahoo! opting out of the bid just 2 days ago)

3. Yahoo! coming up with a revolutionary web-mail interface just like mail clients like MS Outlook.

4. Google offering *free* wireless internet in Mountain View, CA.

5. Microsoft just realizing that one can get more money from ad-revenue (like Google does) than licensing!

6. All 3 giants merging with one or other company for book and video searches.

7. Google giving away $1 to publishers for every Firefox with Google Toolbar download, and also giving away money for every ad-click to users enabling Google-AdSense on their blogs.

First few points look pretty revolutionary, imagine if Yahoo! and MSN combine their messenger service not only this would provide the user ease of logging in to both the service through single client, but will also mean that they have THE largest share in the messenger market. And if Microsoft manages to successfully acquire AOL (which looks highly likely, considering the cash they have) then *almost all* of the messenger market will be in their hand, and GTalk will find it really hard then to battle Microsoft in this field then.

AOL acquisition is another major thing with around 10% of Goggle’s ad-revenue coming from AOL, if Google manages to get AOL, then they will get foothold as an ISP too, plus a lot of ad-revenue. As according to point 4, they are already trying to be an ISP for increased reach and ad-revenue. But if Microsoft manages to get AOL it will be a big setback for Google, not only they will lose out on ad-revenue and messenger users, but it will give a big user base to Microsoft to publicize their products, and might just help them combine with Time-Warner for the video search.

The new Yahoo! web-mail interface (which is in beta) looks really cool, I haven't used it yet but it looks real promising and might just make the web-mail experience as was never before.

All in all this looks a pretty exciting war between the 3 big wigs of the internet. And as a neutral we are in for some pretty good times as this competition is going to lead us to really improved and revolutionary services as never before. So i will simply sit back and enjoy the war for supremacy between the three and enjoy more and more features and new services.

:)

Keep the competition alive!!

True ?

Just read the today's fortune @ orkut, it read like this !!

The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do

So, i guess for me this simply tells that i should do SOME WORK :)

so now back to work !

On@TCC

Finished reading On@TCC couple of days ago in 6 hrs straight. Considering i am just as good a reader as Glenn Mcgrath is a batsman [:)], this was a big achievement !! This also tells that book was really interesting, and surely will never bore u.

The story of the book has been told in a typical Chetan Bhagat's style with his so-called "dark humour". His style of throwing in some really funny one-liners in any kind of situation is really great ! One thing i must say about Chetan is that he literally seems an expert on girls, maybe someday he would give ppl like me some tips :D. And some of his comments about "boss" were really good :), i guess EVERY working person will agree with the "boss" feeling, 'coz there are only 2 types of boss in the world: bad and worse. The "good" ones cease to exist. Well the boss taking credit of or naming someone's else work in his name is a pretty common thing i guess and has happened with me too. Also all the "buzzwords or jargons" the boss speaks is pretty true. The book sounds a WARNING to all the guys getting bald: "Beware, its going to be difficult for you to find ur gal, even if u get into microsoft" :). All n all the whole story is filled with witty lines. Some of them which i really liked are:

• Threesome with blondes and hitting the boss are the top indian male fantasy.
• Few people in this world get to hit their boss, but those who do will tell you it is better than sex.
• He clicked his pen shut with a swagger, as proud as da Vinci finishing the MonaLisa
• Girls like Esha hardly eat anything, but still jump around asking for treats.
• One thing guys do know is when to shutup.
• Girls' handbags have enough to make a survival kit for Antarctica.
• Copier decaptivates man, duplicates document.
• It is way more elegant to cry sitting down than standing up.

Though the end of the story is a typical Hindi movie ishtyle. A fairytale ending with all good things happening - "a successful love story", "their revenge with their boss", "saving the call center" and all, but is life a fairytale always ?? But still i will recommend this book, for all the entertainment it gave throughout. Didn't someone said "Enjoy the journey more, than the destination" (or something like that). So enjoy the book, inspite of a filmi ending :)

A Good News: I bought my new cell: nokia 6230i :)))

Over for now.

Few Quotes !

Few Quotes I just read. Ya they are a bit funny, but i guess quite true as well ? Most of them are typically true for a software engg environment of ours :))

1. Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
2. If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos... then you probably haven't completely understood the seriousness of the situation.
3. Doing a job RIGHT the first time gets the job done. Doing the job WRONG fourteen times gives you job security.
4. A person who smiles in the face of adversity... probably has a scapegoat.
5. TEAMWORK...means never having to take all the blame yourself.
6. Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups. (Morale of this quote: don't argue too much in the meetings with the management !!!)
7. When the going gets tough, the tough take a coffee break. (perfectly true for any software engg.)
8. Succeed in spite of management.

Now my favorite one:
9. Aim Low, Reach Your Goals, Avoid Disappointment.
I heard this one in a refined version (Promise Less, Deliver More) in my induction training at HCL Tech...and i guess u will realize how true this is after some time :)

The New Reign

The Dravid Reign is just 2 matches old. And i know its TOO early to say anything, but still i firmly believe that to declare Dravid as captain for 2 whole series in advance is a step in right direction. Atleast the guy will have some confidence, some breathing space so that now he can concentrate on making strategies for the series in hand unless otherwise where Ganguly's return would always have been on his mind ! The team for the rest of the ODIs is yet to be decided and Ganguly's return to the team or rather Ganguly's future completely depends upon today's meeting. Now leaving Ganguly aside for now and talking about the new reign.

In the 2 matches played India has completely outplayed SriLanka, yes people might say that it's there home game and all, but i can't remember when did india dominated SL after Jayasuriya burst onto the scene. Whatever might be the reason in last 2 matches there seems to be a newly found self-belief. Some amazing performances from Sachin, Pathan, Dravid and Harbhajan led india to win in the first match and then again in 2nd match Pathan and Sachin took india to another easy victory.

First biggest plus point i see in these 2 matches is the new look Sachin, for past few years he has just been ambling along for his runs, with most of his attacking shots being pushed onto the backseat. But in these 2 matches he has danced down the track repeatedly to spinners (including Murali), much to my (and others) delight. Seems like the good ol' Sachin is back amongst us, yes again its too early to draw an conclusion but well the good signs are here for all of us :) He is just back from the surgery and a long lay-off, maybe he would have realised in this break that he doesnt have enough cricket left in him, maybe just 1 or 2 years (with all these injuries just round the corner), so i guess he has realised that he now should play his own natural game and just go out there and ENJOY !! And if he can really go out on the field just to Enjoy, then i am very much sure india are going to see some more of these scintillating innings from the little-master. He has got all the fame/records/ and everything what anyother cricketer can only dream off, so i dont think there's much left for him to achieve (except for a World Cup win maybe), so he can really go out an ENJOY himself. This would not only be beneficial for him but also for the team. Also Indian team now has atleast few people who can play the big anchor role notably Dravid and Kaif.

The other big plus point of these 2 matches has been Irfan Pathan, the way he batted in the first game and then his new ball spell in 2nd match has just turned the game for indian team. I firmly believe Chappell and Dravid together can bring this consistency in him, and he can really be a great asset to the team in the near future, with the World Cup just round the corner.

The other big plus to me has been the bowling of Harbhajan Singh, i dont remember Harbhajan bowling too many crucial spells apart from series against Aus in '01. Few good spells here and there were all he did. But in these 2 matches he has looked pretty good, especially in first match when he picked up wickets when the dangerous Jayasuriya and Sangakkara were going berserk.

Dravid himself led the team from front in the first match..with a breathtaking 85 notout off just 63 balls. And has made some good decisions while fielding (ya ya i know when someone's winning all decisions looks great). But the best thing i liked about Dravid in these matches was his post-match statement - his humbleness. He simply said that its just one match, this was a match where almost everything when perfect and which is rare and we have to concentrate on future matches. And his best reply was when he was asked "If Irfan pathan is next Andrew Flintoff ?", he answered "Well he's just a bowler who can bat a BIT". That's a perfect reply to keep a person down-to-earth, especially with media like ours around who can simply put anyone on cloud 9 after just 1 good performance. Infact Irfan himself has been through this.

Anyway enough for now.

Just as i finish this off i see the news that GANGULY HAS NOT BEEN INCLUDED IN THE TEAM !!

Hurray...for a change THUMBS UP TO INDIAN SELECTORS...

with this positive mood i head to see Catherine..ooops i mean "The Legend of Zorro"

:)

Chelsea Rocks !!

Writing after quite a long gap. Have been a bit busy with new office plus have been more than a bit lazy to write down something :). Anyway now i am writing down something !

Last night i watched the champions Chelsea playing Bolton Wanderers at home. And after just 4 minutes they found themselves in an unusual territory of being a goal down ! That was just their 3rd goal coneceded in 8 matches. They kept fighting n fighting but the half time scoreline somehow remained 0-1 though they were always threatening to come on level terms. Then after half-time their mastermind coach Jose Mourinho played a big gamble as he substitued a defender for a striker !! It wasn't a do-or-die situation for them, and they were down by only 1 goal...but this move literally showed Chelsea's intent and what they were after in the coming half. What followed in the 2nd half was a COMPLETE RIOT ! They literally run riot in the 2nd half. After few chances to Drogba to start off. They got a free-kick around 30 yards out. In Frank Lampard they have got a man who is at the top of the world, filled with complete confidence in whatever he does, scoring goals at will for both Chelsea and England and literally pulling both of them to top. And once again he produced a superb free-kick which Bolton keeper could only parry out in front of Drogba, who smashed it home for the equaliser in the 52nd minute. They had couple of more chances to take the lead before in the 55th minute Drogba passed to Lampard in front of goal, who blasted the ball into the net for the Chelsea lead, few more chances missed then in 59th minute Bolton were down to 10 men for a deliberate hand ball just outside the penalty area. Frank Lampard again rose to the occasion to fire home his 2nd and 3rd Chelsea goal from a superbly taken free-kick.

We were less than just 15 minutes into the half and Mourinho's gamble has paid off in a big way so he substitued a striker Joe Cole for a defender. Two minutes later the mayhem was completed when Drogba fired the 4th Chelsea goal from the Lampard corner. Gudjohnsen completed the riot with a 5th in the 74th minute.

But literally in space of 9 minutes of complete mayhem Chelsea have shown the whole of England that THEY ARE THE CHAMPIONS. It was their 9th win of 9 matches with just 3 goals conceded. Currently Chelsea have the same aura around them as the Man United of past used to have, scoring goals at will. Mourinho has a strength of around 15-20 all high class players, so he can easily switch between them for the big results, which all other league sides lack. In Lampard they have a real influential player who currently is doing the same job for Chelsea and England, what Gerrard is used to doing for Liverpool. Its just 9 matches into the season and they have opened up an 8 points gap at the top. I tell you, the league title is dead and buried, Chelsea are not going to slip up. Apart from Lampard, players like Joe Cole, Drogba (in super form after a dismal last season), Robben, Makelele, Duff.....they have some truly world class players. They have had all kinds of victories this season starting from a scrappy 93rd minute goal against the promoted Wigan Athletic in their first league game to 4-0 thrashing of second placed Charlton, to 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool at Anfield to this 5-1
riot of Bolton after being down by a goal at half-time. Time and again they have proved they are the champions by coming out on top through all kinds of situations.

On the other front Man Utd had a good 3-1 win over Sunderland, but this was a diff kind of Utd win. Normally for last 2 seasons you would see Man Utd dominating most of the match and then missing chances, just to get a draw, hard-fought victory or even lose sometimes. But this time it was totally opposite, they were behind all the time against Sunderland. But just a few moments of brilliance- first from the unstoppable Wayne Rooney in first half, then from Nistelrooy in 2nd half, then when the score was 2-1 Van der Sar produced a great save to keep the score 2-1, which was increased to 3-1 by the debutant 18yr old striker Rossi. And these 3 goals were almost the no. of chances Man Utd created in the whole match !

A completely different kind of victory but neverthless a much needed win for Utd. I guess Man Utd and Chelsea have switched positions in last 2 seasons. Man Utd are the one following and scrapping to victories, while Chelsea are leading and blasting opponents to win matches !

Onto some other big stories..
1. Fernando Alonso takes Renault to the world constructor's championship with his 7th win of the season and sings "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS" :))))
2. Ronaldo scored a hattrick to give Real a victory, while a Ronaldinho double could just earn Barca a draw :( Barca defense is really struggling this season.
3. Aussies more or less on course for a victory over World XI with around 325 more runs needed with just 8 world XI wkts in hand. Warney n Macgill due to create a mayhem on 4th and 5th day :) But i believe they still need to change something for future like Hussey in for Katich !!

That's it from today sports round up :)))

Last day in my first company

Today was my last day in my first company. Finally feeling pretty happy and relieved. Gotta get one more sign on the clearance form and booom i am off :). This whole one week or a bit more has been one hell of a busy week...attending parties.....giving parties...getting clearance signatures.....+ few other blah-2 things......

Well this last day was unlike the usual last days that generally happen coz today there was also an "ice-breaking" session in our group !! All in all it was a great day, real fun, some INTERESTING moments.

First of all there was an intro round, there were few interesting ways in which ppl gave their intros...but the most popular way seemed to be some kinda thinking posture or some sudden feeling of elation...well me borrowed the "pehchaan Kon ??" from the bar-girl waala boy frm GILC :D

Then there was a round where u had to show some kinda depression...well this was a pretty boring round !! Almost everyone doing the same thing, in same way...some of them were so depressed that we could hardly hear them :)). Apart from 2 songs sung in that round it was pretty tp, interestingly one of 'em was sung by our GPM.

Then there were few funny rounds like someone having to enact as elephant trunk with ppl on his sides enacting has elephant ears, one round with ppl enacting as boats n all......the current elephant had to chose the next bakra [aka elephant] and when sanjayku san was selected as the elephant i somehow knew me will have to become the next :), but well wasnt this supposed to be my last day ? yes, so there came a twist from our GPM...he changed the elephant script to shooting script !! And i had to enact a person dying after being shot :o, with 2 ppl on my side weeping :)). So i was officially dead now :D

Then came a round a group of ppl had to make some given scene, and others had to guess that from our depiction of that scene...well my laziness in shaving made me a pick-pocketer :o, anyway that was fun....picking the pocket of a PM :D

Then came the finale round, and it had points...well the best thing about having points is that it turns on the competitive spirit. In this round one of the team members had to enact a situation or anything given on the chit and the rest of the team had to guess that and then become part of that situation..a bit like dumb-c only but with some twist :) ...Our team started in the worst possible manner, with our team member reading something else on the chit, and enacting tht ! On the other hand Alok san and Mihir san's team did outstandingly in the first round !! After the first round, in which 4 ppl had turned up for each team, our team was last..., then came the 2nd round and luckily most teams did badly in this round and me, who had to enact the situation got an easy one, which we actually did pretty well to get the bonus points also to get right back in the game. Then came the 3rd and last round, it had so many points that it could turn the tables 180 deg...n well that's wat happened sasan san lead his team like a TM and enacted the final clue brilliantly and all his team members did really well to earn the bonus points which virtually won them the game. If either of Mihir san's team or my team had to win they had to take bonus points...Mihir san's team scored but failed to get the bonus points...so our team was last....bonus points, we win, else we lose....and somehow
at the last moment at this crunch time my PL who was originally supposed to act the final clue, threw the responsibilty on me :o, anyway i went there and saw the topic...and was amazed ! wasn't this my final day ? yes !! the topic was "employee firing his BOSS" !! well-2 i wonder if it was specifically chosen for me :)), anyway i think i enacted it pretty well, even my PL guessed it perfectly correct, + other team members also got quite well into the scene...but alas....the performance ended, our GPM glanced at the scoreboard for a minute or so and said most of them could exactly guess the situation correctly, so we got a ZERO !? :o :o :o, common even if some of them got wrong still we would have got MORE than SOME points, but ZERO ?? again was it delibrate/biasing or something ? [fingers crossed] wtf why would i care ? anyway the surprise score left us on 3rd position. still that was fun :)

Then it was followed by a senti speech by our GPM, over the group and all..but i am sorry [sorry to Mihir san only] that it failed to evoke many emotions in me...anyway won't go into the reasons.....Though i believe that speech surely would have served some purpose, atleast it will effect the new freshers that have joined the group :)

PS: i wrote after a long time, was TOO-TOO busy to write :)
PPS: saw skeleton key yesterday...kinda fine....nothing exceptional....but u can see it once for sure :)
PPPS: would be entering a new world in the new week !!

End of an era of dominance

July 21st, 2005 [no i am not talking about my bday] a battle started for one of the biggest prizes in the history of cricket. And today September 12th, 2005 it ended. And surely it has more than lived upto all the pre-series hype.

It was a series between THE champions Australia and THE challengers England. Before the series it was being predicted that this time it is going to be close one and England might just get the result which England have not gor for 16 years and 29 days, which neither of the current players have experience on either sides. Well but surprisingly for the whole series the roles of the champions and the challengers were reversed (except for the first match @ Lords), in all the matches it was Australia who were doing all the running, while it were England who were taking the lead thoughout. It was simply left to Warne-man show for Australia after the first match at Lords. It was a pathetic result for the Australians and i believe there would be some whole sale changes in the Aussie team.

All and all it was THE Greatest Series ever with all of the last 4 matches going right down to the wire. One of the very few series who were this hardly fought. A Mcgrath special at Lords to give Aussies an easy win, a nail biting 2 runs win for England at Edgbaston, followed by a thrilling 4 over stay at the wicket by Mcgrath and Lee against the hostility of Flintoff and Harmison at Old Trafford to draw the game, followed by magical spell from Warne and hostile spell from Lee at Headingley to almost sneak out victory defending a small target of 129 runs and today another thrilling bowling display from Warne was negated by the brash attitude of KP to sneak England a draw which helped them achieve their greatest ever result in a past decade or so, or maybe even the greatest EVER ! While for the Australians it might just be their worst ever !

This result would be a real heartbreak for Shane Warne, because this was supposed to be his farewell series in England and this man gave it all, maybe did what even he or his staunch supporters might not have expected. He scored over 200-odd runs with a batsmen like average of 30 plus and picked a whopping 40 wkts in the 5 match series. But all to no avail ! He even bettered his '93 debut series which he started by bowling the 'Ball of the Century' and took 34 wkts and hence started an era of Aussie dominance over this biggest and oldest prize in the history of game. But today the era has ended and it proved to be a tragic farewell for one of THE GREATEST EVER PLAYER in the history of game.

I guess Warne must be thinking about this song from Linkin' Park today:

Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on, but didn't even know
I wasted it all
just to watch you [Ashes] go

I kept everything inside
And even though I tried
It all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a
memory of a time when
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end it doesn't even matter

I guess few of the main reasons responsible for the Aussie defeat are:

• Ponting and aussie management's stubborness of not playing the new players like Hussey, Hodge, Haddin, Tait et al and persisting with the players who were failing repeatedly like Gillespie, Kasprowicz, Hayden, Katich, even Martyn and Gilchrist.
• Inability of few of the Aussie batsmen to accept the fact that English bowling attack is quite good and they have to grind their runs especially when most of them were awfully out of form.
• Dropping crucial catches and getting wickets of no-balls.
• Almost always wasting their first innings and then doing catch-up in the whole match.

I think its enough for today..would surely write a few more posts on this enthralling series.

To finish it i would bow down to the level of cricket that was played in this series and especially to two players who gave all they had in them to win the Ashes for their country. Ironically among those two players one of them, Shane Warne, was playing his last Ashes series in England and the other one, Andrew Flintoff, was playing his first Ashes series. These two players almost single-handedly carried their team throughout the series with occasional support from others. But in the end the broad and young shoulders of Andrew Flintoff carried his team farther then old but pretty strong shoulders of Shane Warne.

The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

Well yesterday i got to watch the finale of the Great Indian Laughter challenge..well that was actually a great fun..The winner Sunil Paul was simply outstanding...for me he was easily the winner among those 6. Coincidently the thing which won him the contest was the parody of a *POPULAR* song by a winner of a similar contest [Indian Idol]. He was also pretty good in mimicry of various actors mainly Sunil Shetty, Naseeruddin Shah et al... I guess Raju Srivastava was pretty good too with that newer version of Sholay with Gabbar as totally un-influential person. For me he should have been second..but anyway there was no fight about the First result !
All n all a pretty good entertainment...

On a finishing note, i think these channel wars are actually getting some real interesting contests in, and allowing some good talents to take the center stage. Almost every channel these days is having similar contests... Indian Idol, Great Indian Laughter challenge, [V] Popstars, Harsha ki Khoj....the list is endless..

Enough for now...wrote after a long time :)

PS: Eagerly waiting for the Ashes to finish, and see the warney retaining the trophy for the Aussies !

Learning

Well this is not a regular post...its just my learning from the past one month:

"There are no shortcuts [in life/to success]"

Just realised how true this line is.....

:)

Well would just add another of my favorite quote. This is from the movie, Fight Club and again this is SOME quote :)

"It's only when you have lost everything, that you are free to do ANYTHING"

again pretty true :)

Khel Ratna nominations + some crap !

Just read the news in the morning newspaper that Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly's name were rejected by the Indian Government for the Khel Ratna Award. Well if i look back at past year, indian cricket didn't had a great year at all. But still we see these names being referred for the Khel Ratna !! Especially the name of Saurav Ganguly is simply disgusting. This guy [read indian captain] is struggling to get a place in the team, if at all the selection would have been simply on merit he would never make it to the playing eleven let alone become the captain of this Indian team and here i am seeing him being nominated for Khel Ratna, the highest award in sports ? which till now has only been awarded to Sachin Tendulkar !!

I simply wonder when will this Indian sports get above the reputations. A player like Sourav Ganguly who has hardly scored any runs in past 2 years, leave aside few big scores against the minnows like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh et al is not only made captain of the side, but is even nominated for the Khel Ratna ! Amazing....simply amazing. I dont think even as a captain Ganguly has led india to any noticable success in last year, so these nominations are even more appalling coz not only has he failed in personal contributions but he hasn't even done anything noticeable as a leader. So surely these nominations are either simply coz of their reputation in indian cricket or on the rotation basis [similar to few awards @ my workplace (no questions about this will be entertained !) ]

Well i guess now im going to get away from the above topic, hell yes i will write what i want to ! afterall its my blog "The Matrix" [the world of MY thoughts] !! They [read ganguly's supporters] say that he is just out of form. Cmmon form ? When did u see bad form lasting for over 2 years ? These days he struggles to get even into double figures most of the times, and when he does score few runs (ya precisely FEW !), he takes away so many deliveries to make sure that the team doesn't reach a good total :)
Ya i might be sounding too bashing..well then that's the mood im in at the moment.. The WC '2007 is just round the corner and instead of giving chances to the newer faces, indian selectors are persisting with the old horses [surely not war horses !!]. There was once a famous controversial comment in Australian cricket over Shane Lee (if i remember correctly) - "Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field". This kinda fit perfectly on Ganguly at the moment :) Youngsters like Suresh Raina, Venugopal were given hardly given any chances and now indians are back to the good ol' ganguly et al....even if Raina didnt do good with the bat, but atleast he affected 3 runouts in as many matches :)

I would simply sum it up to infer that its high time that the indian cricket move above reputations else they would see them being thrown to the ground in the upcoming WC. Most of the teams like England, Pakistan for example, have started opting for youngsters and after a few reverses, good results are showing...but indians are going against the same old path and getting beaten again and again....Even the masters, the champions of the game are finding it hard to bear some of the old horses [read gillespie, maybe even hayden] in the team.....so simply forget that india can bear few non-playing players like ganguly.

Another big problem in the indian cricket is the media, with hardly 1-2 good matches, the indian media creates such a hype of players that they are everywhere in the news....there on every television with different ads...and then they just keep playing in the team through their reputations/PAST performances ! Yuvraj, Pathan just to name a few i guess are the biggest examples of this !!

A new series awaits india in Zimbabwe....well the result is quite expected india will reach another final (simply coz the third team is a big time minnow, Zimbabwe, who is just fresh from 2 test -defeats with days !!) and will lost another final...as far as i can remember it will be 20th loss in 21/22 odd finals ? A great record to ponder over ? naah quite normal......we keep losing over and over again...then someday will get a wonder win like @ Eden Gardens against Aus, Lords finale against Eng, Adelaide against Aus and whole of the media, whole of the public will simpy forget all that has happened in the very recent past. All sins are forgotten the day india does a thing like this simply depending upon some of the one-off individual brilliance be it of Dravid, Laxman, Yuvraj or Kaif. After it the world will get normal india will lose another series or finale and then again all these past losing records will start appearing in the media. Well pretty simple ? isn't it ? Didnt someone say the world is round ? Ohh ya okkk, so that's why all this is being repeated over and over again ?

Enough...
Now back to mails [aka office work]

Farewell Time

Well this seems to be a farewell season for me. In about last month or so have already given farewell to around 8-9 ppl !!! Some of them are real dear friends of mine. People seem to be leaving for the greener pastures like MBA, MS and few switching jobs, some in turn switching their town as well. I really wonder when next will i get to meet these frndz of mine. Time it seems create a long gap between people, at college we were together..but slowly the time moved on..college finished, everyone got busy with their jobs, Few and far get togethers and now some have left for a different states or even different country all together. Today's communication mediums like - mails, phone, messengers n ya orkut too does try to bridge the gap but still. But well i guess this is life for you and you have to move on.

With the hope of seeing them sometime soon...i sign off..
Miss you Vik and Poker...

Current Song [purely coincidence] :
Yaaron Dosti badi hi haseen hai,
yeh na ho to kya fir bolo yeh zindagi hai..
koi to ho raazdaar, begaraz tera ho yaar...-2

teri har ek burai par daante woh dost,
gum ki ho dhoop to saaya bane tera woh dost,
naache bhi woh teri khushi mein,
arey yaaron dosti badi hi haseen hai...
yeh na ho to kya fir bolo yeh zindagi hai...

On a lighter note: Played a hell lot of TT today....happy with the my game today :)

Cricket at its best

Man !! what a match it was in the end...what a thrilling end to the 2nd Ashes test. Inspite of all the gutsy batting display by the likes of Warney, Lee and Kaspro against the hostile bowling of Harmison & Flintoff, england are right back into this Ashes series !! When the match started here on the 4th day @ edgbaston few would have thought that aussies would give any fight. But well i had a bit of hunch that they might just make it, with Warney at the crease, he has played some invaluable innings for Australia when they r in need in the past...incl. his highest test score of 99 when Australia were on verge of follow-on. He has been in good first class form scoring both of his first class hundreds this season for Hampshire. As expected england started with their 2 most effective and hostile bowlers Harmison and Flintoff. Warney quoted last night that "I hate losing, and will try to win. Lee is quite a good bat, n well Kaspro is due !". And alas these 3 almost did it for the aussies, well only ALMOST !! Flintoff and Harmison carried on their hostile bowling into the 4th day, giving both Warney and Lee a few bruises. Lee has been in firing line throughout the tour starting with the 20-20 match esp. against Flintoff. But both Warney and Lee took those bruises in their stride and kept fighting on...there were a few great shots in between including one thunderous off-drive by Lee off Harmison. Meanwhile Lee was gloved a harmison delivery over slips, Warney gloved another one over the keeper's head. Once Warney was hit on the leg by Flintoff, he somehow managed to run a legbye on just one leg - only to find Mr. Billy Bowden declaring it a dead ball !! And he had to walk back all the way down to the striker's end !! That one can call a one lighter moment of the day among all that REAL SERIOUS CRICKET, well not lighter for Warney though, coz he was the one who was hit actually. Then came another moment of brilliance from the Man with the golden arm [for england], Freddie Flintoff, after being in firing line for quite a short ones from flintoff, warney decided to go back on a fuller delivery too, though the delivery went down the legside to keeper, but Warney went too far back and across to hit the stumps and give England a much needed wicket. And now it was down to Lee and Kaspro to score around 60 odd runs for the last wkt. They started well, a few short balls down the legside accounted for few useful byes, then a few good boundaries from both of them. 13 runs were scored of a hapless Giles over and target was down to 30. Vaughan got back to his 2 most reliable bowlers Flintoff and Harmison again. But Lee and Kaspro delt with all the blows and short pitch stuff with aplomb. Slowly and steadily the Aussies got closer and closer to the target. Lee was hit brutally on his arm-guard by Flintoff. But like a real warrior he stood up and picked up the bat again, to restart the aussie battle against the expected. On the other hand Kaspro almost guided a wide ball outside the offstump to the third man, Simon Jones dived and got both hands to the ball but spilled the chance. At that time 15 were needed, and it looked Jones had dropped the match and probably the Ashes when Lee hit a boundary of the very next ball, that was a no-ball too. And the target was down to single digit - 9 runs ! But in the end Flintoff and Harmison kept their cool. Flintoff bowled a fine over to Lee barraging him with some fiery short-pitch stuff. Harmison followed it up in the next over with a brutal delivery which Kaspro tried to duck under, but somehow just managed to get his glove onto it, which Geraint Jones too gleefully. And the fine fine battle of the Aussie tail of Warney, Lee and Kaspro against all the odds finally came to an end just 2 runs short of one of the most astonishing victories of all time.

Well i surely will remember this day for long, an amazing day of test match cricket. After 3 great days of test cricket this surely was an icing on the cake. This Ashes battle has surely lived upto all its hype. England were down and almost out after the thrashing at Lords, but they got a lifeline just before the start of the 2nd match with one of their biggest tormentor Glenn Mcgrath getting injured in a freak incident. But still they have to do the job, and their another tormentor Shane Keith Warney was still around. And they surely did it in some style thrashing 400 odd runs on the first day. Warney tried to do his best with 4 wkts in first innings and 6/46 in the second and not to forget the crucial 42 runs in the 2nd innings. But that wasn't enough to prevent a Flintoff-driven England from winning. Flintoff had a dream match, which he surely will remember for ever - 2 half centuries in match (incl 9 sixes !!), 7 wkts and 2 catches. For last one and a half years he has been the man Vaughan has gone to when he needs a wkt and he has almost always done the job for him. But in this match he supported it well with his batting too, that too against the World Champions. All n all it was a great match, one to remember for a long time. And the fighting [never-say-die] spirit that the aussies showed in the end, scoring over 100 for the last 2 wkts just emphasises the reason WHY they are my favourite side. They just dont give it up easily. Someone has to play really really well to beat them, some out of the skin performance like that of the Freddie Flintoff. Well but england too have shown a bit of that character in the series. This all lines up for an even more exciting series ahead.

A 10-wkt haul in this match has left Warney on 599 wkts. And i believe with this mez gonna lose the bet that he will pick up KP as his 600th wkt. With Mcgrath not around i believe he will be the one picking up top-order wkts as well [esp of Strauss :) ] and KP bats at no. 5, so unless Lee picks up the top order early Warney won't get KP as his 600th wkt. Well i hope and i know Aussies will bounce back :)

Over to Old Trafford..
Over for now...